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Syracuse women’s rowing entered the NCAA Championship following the first Atlantic Coast Championship in program history. At the final race of the season, SU built off its success for a strong finish.

No. 10 Syracuse finished 11th at the NCAA Championship, two spots better than in 2023 and only one point away from tying its program-best placement. The varsity 8 had the best showing, finishing eighth, while the varsity 4 and second varsity 8 ended in 12th and 13th, respectively. Texas, who came in ranked No. 1, won the national championship.

On Friday, SU competed in the heat races, where the top three boats in each heat advanced to the A/B semifinals, keeping them in contention for first place. The No. 8 seed V8 and No. 17 seed V4 both finished third in their events, giving them a guaranteed top-12 placement. The No. 9 seed 2V8 crossed the line fourth, sending them to the C/D semifinal.

To start Saturday’s semifinals, the V8 came in last place in the A/B race with a time of 6:25.3, putting them in the B finals. It was a tight race, as SU only finished 10 seconds behind first-place No. 2 Stanford, followed by No. 4 Princeton, No. 8 Brown, No. 6 University of California, Berkeley and No. 11 University of Pennsylvania.

The 2V8 then competed in the C/D semifinals, capturing second place in 6:39.9, four seconds after No. 13 Rutgers. The Orange’s time secured them a spot in the C finals and was in ahead of Boston University, Southern Methodist University and Jacksonville University.

The final race of the day saw SU’s V4 cross the line last in its A/B semifinal, covering the course in 7:31.5. With Stanford, Princeton, No. 3 Tennessee, No. 9 Michigan and Brown filling the race’s top five spots, this placed Syracuse in Sunday’s B finals.

The 2V8 began Sunday’s final races by finishing first in the C final, equating to 13th place overall, four spots better than in 2023. It crossed the line in 6:38.4, narrowly beating out Rutgers by one second and placing ahead of No. 16 Duke, No. 12 Indiana, Gonzaga and BU. This granted SU 20 points in the standings.

Next, the V4 ended in last place in its B final behind Michigan, Brown, Cal, Rutgers and Penn with a time of 7:25.3. This result left the V4 in 12th place, giving the Orange 11 points – one position better than 2023’s 13th-place finish.

SU’s last race came from the V8, where it placed second, covering the course in 6:20.4. The V8 finished in eighth place overall, adding 45 points to SU’s total.

Across their three Finals races, the Orange accumulated 76 points, in 11th place overall. They ended only one point behind 10th-place Penn, which would’ve equaled the team’s best finish ever. SU once again got the best of ACC foes Virginia and Duke, placing in front of both squads.

Published on June 2, 2024 at 12:21 pm

Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu | @ Noahnuss99